1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to fiber optic connectors in general and more particularly to hermetically sealed feedthrough connectors.
2. Description of Related Art
There exists a family of fiber optic connectors, exemplified by that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,068, issued Nov. 17, 1987 by Norbert L. Moulin and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, which is characterized by a fiber optic terminus spring loaded in a connector body. In the male version, an optic fiber which extends axially through the terminus terminates in an alignment bushing which forms the tip of the terminus. The female version of such a terminus, with which the just described male version is to mate, is similar to the male version except that it is typically not spring loaded, and in that it includes a resilient alignment sleeve carried by the terminus and extending forward of its alignment bushing. When a pair of connectors respectively carrying a male and a female terminus are intercoupled, the male and female termini mate by insertion of the alignment bushing of the male terminus into the protruding portion of the resilient alignment sleeve. The bushings are typically of the same size, both having diameters which are slightly larger than the internal diameter of the resilient sleeve, so that it is caused to expand by insertion of the alignment bushings into its opposite ends. In this manner the bushings are precisely aligned with each other, as are the optic fibers which extend axially through the bushings and terminate in their end faces with which they are typically ground and polished.
In those situations where contact is to be made between a pair of optic fibers through a mounting panel, it would be desirable to provide a feedthrough connector, preferably hermetically sealed, which is adapted to work with connectors of the type just described. Accordingly, it is the general object of the present invention to provide a feedthrough connector whereby contact may be made between a pair of fiber optic connectors of the type described through a mounting panel.
A more specific object of the present invention is to make such a contact between fiber optic connectors having termini designed to mate by insertion into a common resilient alignment sleeve. Yet another specific object of the present invention is to provide a hermetically sealed feedthrough connector for interconnecting a pair of fiber optic connectors having fiber optic termini, at least one of which is spring loaded.